Health / Politics

Where's the money being spent in new mental health facilities

05:53 am on 23 June 2021

Listen

Just 500-thousand dollars of the $235 million set aside for new mental health facilities has been spent, leading the health minister to express his frustration at how longs it's taking to see the benefits from the government's 1.9 billion dollar mental health spend. The money was set aside in Budget 2019 with a promise to transform mental health services within five years. But two years on, it's unclear how much progress has been made on building new mental health rooms and facilities. The revelations that just 0.2 per cent of the money set aside for new facilities has been spent was made in response to a question from National MP Matt Doocey. He spoke with Nathan Rarere.